OKAIAWA.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 3084, 26 March 1892, Page 4

OKAIAWA.

• (rSOM OUB OWN COBEESPONDENT.) 'The drought is broken op, and in its ' suid we have the Eaupokonni downfall •—-the precursor of the Frost King. 1 Things are, aB usual, insufferably dnjl, BO doll that it is almost impossible to find an interesting topio on whioh to write. \ c The School Committee held a meeting on the 14th inst., when various matters pf interest were diflouased and dealt with. The committee decided to give the three . retiring members of the Education Boatd ft new "lease; and, in connection with these board elections, one wonders whether it ib effrontery or forgetfulness, or , whether the retiring meepbers really think they have done something in the past whioh entitles them to claim the votes of committees. Anyone who has bad deal- * ings with the fegard will remember how seldom their requests are successful ; how often a laoonio reply is received to matters Whioh local committees thiakmoab urgent, - to the effect that in the board's good timje . they will be attended to — wbiob is never. The Okaiawa School Committee Bent & number of these polite requests, and yonr correspondent dare bet a brass button, had be a spate one, that they will be quietly shelved, or at best ignored, as only coming from Okaiawa. There is one thing in connection with the scheme -of public education which needs rearranging, or else the law needs enforoing, and that is in connection with ..the irrgnlarity of the attendance. -In every other line we are eager, yea, determined to get 12d for every shilling — 13d if possible — and yet in this matter of supreme importance we are content to take a third or two-thirds, as the oase may be, forgetfol that the country isbeing ; taxed to make the rising generation have a thorough knowledge of at least the three B's. We apparently don't agree with the wise man that wisdom is more to be ' desired than gold, yea, than fine gold, or else we ate afraid that the extra education will make our boys and girls less competent in the agrionltural world, and this re-opens the question whether these boys passing the sixth and seventh Standards will make as good or better navvies, eto'., than these at present who can only read and write, and, if not, what will become of them ? and whenoe will the country draw her supplies ? or will this bind of work in the next twenty years become obsolete ? What to do with onr boys and girls is a problem not yet Solved, unless we let them drift until they join the Anarohists of Eussia. A social was held a tew nights ago, when a very enjoyable time was spent. A dance followed, and was kept up with Spirit till the wee sma' hours in the ing111 1 noticed that on Saturday night toe young men met in ihe Bmithy to practice, the noble art. It seemed to your correspondent, who caught a passing glimpse only, that soience was conspicuously absent, and that they will be a long time before they will be able to emulate the great man who wrote, " So fight I — not as one that beateth the air." The Okaiawa Sunday sohool held its annual picnic on Saturday last. It was intended at first to hold it at the beach at the mouth of the Inaba, bat unfortunately the weather proved anpropitious, and it was held at the school-house instead. The ohildren were a little disappointed &b a trip to the beach is something to look forward to. and to remember; but the adults worked indefatigably to make it a success, and suoceeded admirably, and the children were in high glee, at the .maqy n6w games, the many lollies, nuts, cake, tea, etc, and returned home tired, j bat exultant, The getting of the material for the sale yards has been let, and so I suppose that the erections of the sale yards is a thing of the near iutare. There is one thing I woald remind contractors of, and that is, 'that the Union have inserted in their specifications that these will be ridgedly. enforced. I do not know what kind of torture this is, but probably some relic of barbarism, or the days of martyrdom, bnt in any case look but. I hear there are three projects moted for the farther advancement of onr town. A town hall, or institute, not. a new proieofc but redivious, and two churches. One soheme might be carried successfully, bat I am afraid in the multitade of sohemes there will be failure.